# New $ 200.00 bill debuts! - Treasury very excited! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566 "2003-09-14T14:38:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/1 "2003-09-14T14:38:20Z")
[New $ 200 Bush Bill!](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/doc_o_day.html?yhnws) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/2 "2003-09-14T14:40:03Z")
Hmmm…this was supposed to go in MPSIMS. Mods please move if you have a spare mod moment. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/3 "2003-09-14T14:42:18Z")
I think someone needs a paycheck docking. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/5 "2003-09-14T16:02:49Z")
They should arrest the cashiers for being too stupid to notice that it was a “Moral Reserve Note” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/6 "2003-09-14T18:42:32Z")
Can you arrest someone for counterfeiting a note that doesn’t exist? ---
**Author:** ![RotorHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@RotorHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RotorHead)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/7 "2003-09-14T19:03:02Z")
I don’t have a cite handy, but I heard about some guy a few years ago that got arrested for trying (unsuccessfully, thank God), to pass a $16 bill. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/8 "2003-09-14T19:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Can you arrest someone for counterfeiting a note that doesn’t exist? \*\* There was a similar occurence a couple years ago with a three-dollar bill. I believe it also had Bush on it. Anyway, if I remember correctly, there couldn’t be a counterfeiting charge because no such bill exists. As for whether or not anything else could happen to the guy passed it, I have no idea. I would be tempted to think that you couldn’t even get a shoplifting charge to stick, since both the passer and the cashier decided that a worthless piece of paper was fair value. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/9 "2003-09-14T20:26:51Z")
I heard about these guys who were counterfeiting $17.[sup]00[/sup] bills. They finished inking a batch and sent out the dumbest one of their group to change a newly printed bill. He came running back into the hideout with a fistful of cash. They breathlessly crowded around asking him what change he got; The dumb guy crowed, “They gave me two sevens and a three!” ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/10 "2003-09-14T21:29:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Can you arrest someone for counterfeiting a note that doesn’t exist? \*\* I don’t think so, but I imagine they might try to stick you for fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/11 "2003-09-14T21:29:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Can you arrest someone for counterfeiting a note that doesn’t exist? \*\* I don’t think so, but I imagine they might try to stick you for fraud and theft. ---
**Author:** ![Run4YourLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9a28c/32.png) [@Run4YourLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Run4YourLife)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/12 "2003-09-15T00:36:59Z")
You can be arrested for counterfeiting a bill that doesn’t exist if you plan to use it as legal currency. That’s what I think anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/13 "2003-09-15T04:56:20Z")
An ironic counterpoint to the thread about some cashier who refused to accept a two dollar bill because “everyone knows there’s no such thing as a two dollar bill”. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/14 "2003-09-15T07:41:19Z")
I think it was from reading one of the Straight Dope compilations that I learned about the rule that says that only people who are dead can be pictured on US money. If Bush would like to kill himself for the right to be on the $200 bill, I would see that as a fair trade. And I wouldn’t mind seeing the Cheney $400 dollar bill and the Tom DeLay ha’penny, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/15 "2003-09-15T07:53:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\*I heard about these guys who were counterfeiting $17.[sup]00[/sup] bills. They finished inking a batch and sent out the dumbest one of their group to change a newly printed bill. > > He came running back into the hideout with a fistful of cash. They breathlessly crowded around asking him what change he got; > > The dumb guy crowed, “They gave me two sevens and a three!” \*\* HA HA. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/16 "2003-09-15T12:54:29Z")
I can top that. [LINK](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150731&highlight=Florida) ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/17 "2003-09-15T16:33:16Z")
I saw a show where a guy hand painted $100 bills and used them as currency. Claimed it wasn’t counterfeit, but a work of art he was selling (or trading) for $100 worth of goods. Even got some takers. And I have the $3 Clinton bill. Framed. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/18 "2003-09-15T17:21:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duke of Rat \* > \*\*I saw a show where a guy hand painted $100 bills and used them as currency. Claimed it wasn’t counterfeit, but a work of art he was selling (or trading) for $100 worth of goods. Even got some takers. > > And I have the $3 Clinton bill. Framed. \*\* If it’s the same guy I’m thinking of he’s a fairly famous and eccentric and (notorious to the Treasury agents) artist who spends his art on mundane, everyday items, _if_ people are willing to take the money. His bills are worth far, far more than the face value, and there are fans of his work that try to shadow him in order to buy up the bill. It’s sort of art + philosophical performace art rolled into one. It’s a pretty fascinating story. - See below [Meeting J.S.G. Boggs, the counterfeit artist](http://www.ozwei.net/boggs/et_glass.html) [Who is J.S.G Boggs?](http://www.jsgboggs.com/whois.html) ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/19 "2003-09-15T18:15:37Z")
Yeah Astro, that’s the guy!! Thanks for the cite, I think the show I saw was on counterfeiting and had a spot devoted to him, but it’s been a while. I didn’t Google, I figured “Money+Art” or whatever would lead me down too many wrong paths on a Monday morning. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-200-00-bill-debuts-treasury-very-excited/201566/20 "2003-09-15T20:27:50Z")
This happened a few years ago at the Dairy Queen in Danville, KY. I think it was the very same bill, or a very similar one–I know it was a $200 bill with Bush on it. There was a question of whether it really constituted passing a counterfeit bill, since it was such an obvious fake. I mean, if I tried to pay for my chicken strip basket with a piece of paper with “$5” written on it in black Sharpie, and they were dumb enough to take it and even give me my few cents in change, have I broken the law? Dr. J